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It were no doubt about it my best tournament ever, and actually it is a very wierd story.

Our first match against a qualify pair from Thailand i got an injury in my triceps muscle and i couldn´t smash at all but we won the match anyway. I went to our physiotherapist an got some treatment and he said i most likely coudn´t play anymore because the injury were not good. The following day the muscle were the same and i tried to move it around while the physio and the coaches watched me and we agreed on that i should try to play and see how it would go.

CHEW/CHAN:
The match against Chew and Chan were a strange one because in the first set i could only drop make short defensive shots and we lost the set offcourse. In the second set i still couldn´t do much with the arm but as the set went by my arm got better and better, and when we were behind 13-8 i said To Peter that now i just would take the pain and play 100 % and see what happend. It actually worked out okay and we won the game 15-13. The 3. set my arm was a little bit better again and i almost played normal but still i couldn´t smash 100%, but we won the match and we were very happy because just a few hours earlier i almost withdrawed from the tournament.

The fairytale continued....

LUNDGAARD/ERIKSEN:
Well the next day i was certain that my arm would be totally dead, but believe it or not it actually were a little better, and again we started the match a little bit carefull about the arm and just smashed 50-60% but again it worked because we were forced to focus on the flat game and not for the big attack. And especially against those to it is important to come forward on the court and get the attack, because they are very strong if the get the attack. We won the first game 15-14 after we chose to take one point at 14-14 but won it anyhow. The second game were also very close but again we kept our heads cool and won it 15-12 i think. We were once again very happy, and said to eachother that my arm should never be good again, because we were playing the best badminton of our lives.

They seemed a little bit "down" in the match. They were missing the power they always have, and didn´t seemed focused enough on the game, and that offcourse we took advantage off.

The fairytale always has and end...

LULUK/ALVEN:
The semifinal agains the indonesians were a very tough match wich lasted long over an hour. We almost won the game in the third set, we were leading 10-7 but somehow lost 8 points in a row. We just watched the game on video today, and it were so little things in the end the seperated us from going to the final. As the game went on my arm again was okay, but when you play against those to you dont get that many chances to attack because they allways try to play to the net or just pass the netplayer. But anyhow it were are very good match, and the best result ever for us, we can´t wait to play again and see if we can keep the level or maybe even improve.

The next to monts is hard hard work to get ready for the tough tournament programme wich starts in Dutch Open in september.

If anyone have more questions about some of the matches, just ask aghain i i will answer them.

Well the injury is getting better day by day, so i think i can practise again in a few days so its not not bad. It´s okay for me just to take a few days off practise, just to get ready for the hard practise that awaiting us in next months.

Its also good because then there is more time to watch video, and talk tactics and things to improve. We also practise our short serve when we are injured, because that you always can do with an injury.

Mange tak Thomas! It's great with some inside comments! It's weird, but sometimes an injury can be a blessing. Maybe it's because it forces a change of tactics, or maybe it takes a lot of psychological pressure off so that "you have nothing to lose" so to speak.

thanx thomas for the account... it was really thrilling to read your experience at malaysian open.. being an avid badminton follower (but i don't play that good ), i loved the way JR asked you for the proceedings at that tourney ... keep this section ticking...

Well it is a difficult question but me and Peter had a feeling that we were on top of things and were convinsed that we would win their setpoint. It was Jens who served to me, and usually when he do that i´m pretty good to come quickly to the net and make a good return, so thats why we did it.